Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi (Tor) [Books for 2011]

I am taking a look at the releases for next year in preparation for my pick for 2011 to be published later. You will see more posts now and then up to when I publish the list.

John Scalzi is one of my absolute favorite authors and now he has taken up a new series. It is a safe bet that anything by Scalzi would rank high on my expectations. He is witty and funny and his writing has an edge to it. To quote John: It’s a reboot of the Hugo-nominated 1962 science fiction novel Little Fuzzy, by H. Beam Piper. I took the original plot and characters of Little Fuzzy and wrote an entirely new story from and with them. The novel doesn’t follow on from the events of Little Fuzzy; it’s a new interpretation of that first story and a break from the continuity that H. Beam Piper established in Little Fuzzy and its sequels. Source: Whatever

The release date is May 10th which just happens to be John Scalzi’s birthday. Pretty cool.

I have not read the original but I expect this to be high on my picks for next year.

Jack Holloway works alone, for reasons he doesn’t care to talk about. Hundreds of miles from ZaraCorp’s headquarters on planet, 178 light-years from the corporation’s headquarters on Earth, Jack is content as an independent contractor, prospecting and surveying at his own pace. As for his past, that’s not up for discussion.

Then, in the wake of an accidental cliff collapse, Jack discovers a seam of unimaginably valuable jewels, to which he manages to lay legal claim just as ZaraCorp is cancelling their contract with him for his part in causing the collapse. Briefly in the catbird seat, legally speaking, Jack pressures ZaraCorp into recognizing his claim, and cuts them in as partners to help extract the wealth.

But there’s another wrinkle to ZaraCorp’s relationship with the planet Zarathustra. Their entire legal right to exploit the verdant Earth-like planet, the basis of the wealth they derive from extracting its resources, is based on being able to certify to the authorities on Earth that Zarathustra is home to no sentient species.

Then a small furry biped—trusting, appealing, and ridiculously cute—shows up at Jack’s outback home. Followed by its family. As it dawns on Jack that despite their stature, these are people, he begins to suspect that ZaraCorp’s claim to a planet’s worth of wealth is very flimsy indeed…and that ZaraCorp may stop at nothing to eliminate the “fuzzys” before their existence becomes more widely known.